Caroline Herschel is generally attributed with the discovery of NGC 381 = H VIII-64 on 27 Sep 1783, though according to an article in Aug 2007 S&T, Caroline's discovery preceded Gamma Cass instead of following and likely refers to NGC 189 instead. Her brother William probably discovered the cluster on 3 Nov 1787 (sweep 774) and noted "a forming cluster of pretty compressed stars." In his second published catalogued he added "C.H. disc[overy] 1783".

200/250mm - 8" ~30 stars in a circular group, bright curving string to the north. A mag 8 star is 10' E.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/16/93): 40 stars mag 11-15 in loose 6' diameter, stands out best at 100x. The brightest mag 10.8 star is part of a triple along the north side. Fairly uniform in mag 12/13 stars with a scattering of faint stars, fairly even distribution with no rich regions. Not recognizable as a cluster at 220x.

17.5" (11/2/91): about three dozen stars in 6' diameter, fairly faint, roughly a circular group. Consists mostly of mag 12/13 stars. Includes a triple star (10.8/12.5/13 at 8"/~3") and two mag 11 stars on the west side. Several stars are arranged in strings. Relatively few stars in center. A line of mag 10 stars trail off to the north edge of field and the mag 10 star at the end of the string 11' N is a close double star.

600/800mm - 24" (1/4/14): nice group of ~75 stars, fairly uniformly distributed in a 6' group. A triple star (STI 185 = 10.8/12.5 at 9" and a third closer companion) is just north of center. The cluster is roughly circular with no denser patches, but it does include a number of faint stars so the appearance is fairly rich. Pretty well detached in the 50' field at 125x (less so on the north side).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb